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Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement has touched a nerve with Greater Sudburians for his "Valley of Death " comment concerning Vale's 2006 purchase of Inco Limited and the city's future last week.

This week's poll question, which asks readers if they think Clement should resign for the comment, saw Sudbury Star readers overload the newspaper's hotline several times this week.

Almost all callers want Clement to resign. Here's a sampling of some of the comments received thus far.

"You have to question his judgment making such an outrageous statement," said one female caller.

"No questions asked: Clement's head should roll," said a male caller.

A 35-year Vale Inco employee said the comment reminded him of the Kia Forte television commercials.

"The Ministry of Industry is not my forte: ignorance is," suggested the man.

A female caller said Clement seems to have a thing against the Nickel Capital.

"He doesn't seem to want Sudbury to evolve into a big city," she said. "He seems to want to hurt the North, its tourism and its business opportunities. He never took the time to look at Vale and let them off the hook when they didn't follow their contractual and other agreements. If it was in southern Ontario, it would be a different story."

As of late Thursday afternoon, readers who voted on the question on the newspaper's website were 218 in favour of Clement resigning (69%) and 99 (31%) against.

If you want to leave a message on this topic on The Sudbury Star's Hotline, call 674- STAR (7827), or vote at www.thesudburystar.com.